North America

(Newser) - Newly discovered microscopic diamonds suggest that a comet crashed into North America 13,000 years ago, triggering devastating floods and fires that killed 35 species and wiped out human communities, reports the Los Angeles Times. Layers of "nanodiamonds," found in a number of regions in the country, were...

(Newser) - A day after President Bush offered a bailout to American automakers, Canada announced plans to follow suit. The federal and Ontario governments will grant GM and Chrysler’s Canadian subsidiaries $3.3 billion ($4 billion in Canadian dollars), the Globe and Mail reports. “We cannot afford either in the...

(Newser) - A defunct and out-of-control spy satellite is falling to Earth, and could scatter debris somewhere in North America in late February or early March, the AP reports. The Air Force says the satellite called US 193, whose central computer failed shortly after its launch in 2006, is big enough that...

(Newser) - The Library of Congress this week unveils the first map to use the name "America"—and the 500-year-old mysteries that go with it. The 1507 map by a German monk includes a surprisingly precise rendering of South America, Reuters reports, and seemingly predicts the contours of the continent's...